KNIGHT NOTEBOOK: Basketball & Business
Oct 29 | Women's Basketball
While on most days, the Rutgers women's basketball team prepares and practices behind closed doors, the Scarlet Knights gave nearly 700 young men and women from the Rutgers Business School in New Brunswick and Newark an insight into leadership, team work and motivation.
"I've been asked to speak at various businesses throughout the years and sometimes I am asked `so what does basketball have to do with business?,'" said head coach C. Vivian Stringer. "We all have to inspire, motivate, keep a team together, teach and get people to work closely together. All these characteristics have everything to do with basketball, sports and the business world."
A quick search of some of today's top business women and men and you'll notice that many participated in some type of organizational sport activity. A 2002 Mass-Mutual Financial Group and Oppenheimer Funds study noted that among the 400 senior women business executives surveyed, 81% played organized team sports growing up, 86% believed sports helped them to be more disciplined and 69% said that sports assisted in the development of their leadership skills and contributed to professional success.
In a skills building workshop that was the brain child of Professor Phyllis Siegel of the Rutgers Business School and current MBA student and assistant to the head coach Betsy Yonkman, the session worked to tie together the qualities of what makes a successful team work, not only on the basketball court, but in the business world as well.
"Going into this, our vision was to create a one-of-a-kind opportunity for business school students to see course concepts come to life outside the classroom. By providing them the opportunity to observe a real team in action and to listen to the insights and experiences of the program's participants, we hoped to demonstrate the real world relevance and applicability of the concepts we are teaching in the business school classroom," said Siegel of the event.
While the session introduced the "team behind the team," which included administrators such as Athletic Director Julie Hermann, as well as members of the ticketing, athletic training, academic, communications and compliance staffs, Coach Stringer also conducted a brief skills session using several members from the audience demonstrating strategy, team orientation and trust.
"Knowing that the ball has to have an opportunity to move to the left, the right, the middle, gives you choices. When you have choices, it gives you have an easier time making a decision," said Stringer of the concept she was relaying. "You have to help each other. Even when there is interference, in our case a defensive player, someone had to make an adjustment. The same thing is going on in the business world. Whether it's the person who has the ball who has to make an adjustment or on the business side with a missed meeting or delay, it has everything to do with how everyone else is going to respond. You have to find a way to get it done."
The heart of the presentation, however, involved the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team opening up on their experiences.
Assistant coaches Tia Jackson and Tasha Pointer talked about key elements that go into creating a winning team. Elements such as attitude, personality, diversity and potential are used to when the assistant coaching staff goes on the road looking for the next combination of Scarlet Knights. All which happen to be the same key concepts that are conveyed by the Rutgers' professors.
Director of Basketball Operations Michelle Edwards gave the students insight into a team culture and structure. In addition to having the key members on a team, the importance of values, norms and expectations were also mentioned as key ingredients to success. Edwards tied in how representing Rutgers University could relate into representing a brand and how routines such as meetings, practice and goal setting are constantly reinforced to make the Scarlet Knights a better team.
All 14 members of the Scarlet Knights also had an opportunity to address the audience with their own experiences. Kahleah Copper and Alex Alfano opened up on knowing about teammates' strengths and weakness, Christa Evans and Briyona Canty mentioned managing challenges and obstacles in school, basketball and everyday life and Betnijah Laney and Natalie Parsons expressed the importance of team chemistry, bonding and its affect on making the team stronger.
"Each person in basketball, just like each person in a team in business, is going to bring a lot of different elements to the table," noted Stringer. "Whether it is the point guard or the center, the CEO or the marketing manager, each have a role to play, each no more important than the other. That's what team work is about."
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersWBB), Twitter (www.twitter.com/RutgersWBB) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/RutgersWBB) for all of the latest news and updates. Fans also receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on both social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.
-RU-
